Said to Have Confessed To Daring Crime Yi Tze-kiang, a suspected kidnapper, was arrested by the Gordon Road police on Tuesday and brought before the First Special District Court yesterday on a writ of detention pending further investigations. Yi was alleged by the police to have confessed to the crime in which a Chinese building contractor Chen Wen-chao was carried away from his home in Yengping Road on April 27 but subsequently released.
It was further alleged by the police prosecutor in court that the kidnappers planned to demand $50,000 after the crime but since the police were hot on their trail, they later set free their victim. A fur overcoat stolen by the kidnappers had been recovered, the court was told. Two other suspects were said to have been arrested by the Chinese police.
It will be recalled that the crime was committed in a most daring manner. The victim was handcuffed and carried away after the kidnappers had looted his house. There was an exchange of fire between the criminals and police but the former escaped. Mr. Chen was released the next day.
Fighting in Holland and uneasiness in the Netherlands East Indies especially in Java are seriously affecting sugar merchants in Shanghai who chiefly depend on Dutch territories for the supply of table sugar and other kinds of sugar the prices of which have jumped up quickly during the past few days, inquiries reveal. Prices are about four times the quotations during the pre-war days, and during the past two weeks local merchants have not been able to obtain their regular supply directly. Some stocks here are being held up as the price is expected to rise still further. A picul of such sugar is said to be priced at more than $90, showing an increase of about 20 per cent. as compared with the price quoted prior to the outbreak of "hostilities in Holland.
It is explained that Shanghai has been obtaining sugar from Fukien and Kwangtung but that sugar from Dutch territories amounts 10 about 70 per cent. of the total supply. Chinese sugar merchants here feel much concerned as the Netherlands currency has not been quoted for the past few They are watching the situation in Europe closely. As Java sugar is shipped here by the Java-China-Japan liners, merchants are also watching with anxiety lest there are changes in shipping schedule. Sugar merchants are said to have made a rush for Netherlands sugar but they have so far only obtained between 50,000 and €0,000 bags, it is stated.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.